With launch of ESPN 3D, will sports viewing habits change?

A football flies through the goal posts and smack dab into your face, an image so real you flinch and move out of the way.

Only you are not standing behind the end zone, but sitting on your living room couch, experiencing the wonders of sports on 3D TV.

Once the stuff of cheesy graphics and paper glasses, 3D technology is on the precipice of changing the way we watch sports on television. ESPN will launch a 3D channel in June, set to broadcast 85 live events, including the World Cup and BCS national championship game.

Fox is also working with DIRECTV to produce its 2010 MLB All-Star game in 3D.

Nobody expects huge television audiences or a stampede to buy new 3D TV sets as the technology crawls out of its infancy. But 3D is not a gimmick that is going away, either, leaving many to wonder just how big an impact the technology will have on the average sports fan.

"It's going to be an evolution, not a revolution, but it's going to be changing the way we look at television in the household," said Chuck Pagano, ESPN vice president of technology. "We don't know what the appetite is yet, but we are going to learn a lot in this next year."

The story of 3D TV is a fairly uncomplicated one. Television manufacturers, seeing an opportunity to grow their market, are beginning to sell 3D TVs in the United States. Hollywood released about 14 3D movies last year, none bigger than blockbuster Avatar, which surpassed Titanic as the highest worldwide grossing film of all-time with $2.5 billion in sales.

These 3D movies are going to need a place to call home once they leave the movie theatres. And more content for TV is going to have to be produced to make it worth the investment for the consumer to buy a 3D TV set.

So that is why you see ESPN with a network. Discovery is also going to launch a 3D network in 2011. And in June, DIRECTV HD customers will receive a free software upgrade enabling them to have access to three dedicated 3D channels through their 3D television sets.

"Manufacturers are going to be pushing for the switch to 3D regardless of whether consumers are interested," said Scott Steinberg, an analyst with high-tech consultants TechSavvy and the author of Get Rich Playing Games.

"But we're not going to see 3D in any large majority of households for the next three years or so, or until they get some killer aps and a vast library of compelling content. Yes, ESPN is going to launch the network, but realistically one network alone is not going to drive the average consumer to swap out their living room set."

Especially since the 3D technology comes on the heels of high-definition, which was considered a new innovation only a few years ago. Many people just upgraded to HD TV, so it is tough to ask them to spend another several thousand dollars on a new 3D set — required to watch in three dimensions.

Then there also is the "fly in the ointment" — those glasses, another requirement to watch in 3D. High-tech glasses are sold separately and range in price from $35 to $300.

"Asking consumers to put on glasses at home is a different cultural step than having moviegoers put on glasses when they sit down at a theater," said Neal Pilson, president of Pilson Communications and former president of CBS Sports. "Given what will be limited 3D sports product, I'm right now not persuaded that 3D is going to sweep across the sports television landscape the way high definition did."

But ESPN is not getting into this for immediate results. Executives at the company understand all of these market variables. Though they declined to disclose how much it is going to cost to produce their 3D content, production costs for 3D events are about 20 to 30 percent higher than the average telecast.

They are the only network with the money to make this type of investment. If this is going to be technology that changes sports viewing, ESPN wants to be at the forefront.

"We haven't bet the farm on launching ESPN 3D," said ESPN president George Bodenheimer. "It's where we want to be as a company, trying new things, seeing if it appeals to fans. We don't know where this road is going to take us, but we like being out front and being leaders in the business."

The network has spent the last three years developing its 3D technology, and has designated its Innovation Lab at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex as its hub for developing 3D technology. Last year, it broadcast the USC- Ohio State football game in 3D in five different theaters across the country. In focus groups immediately after the game, ESPN got the best feedback it has ever received.

Pagano said he has no idea how many people have 3D-capable television sets, nor does he know how many people will watch their broadcasts. As of today, ESPN hasn't signed any deals with cable or satellite providers to carry its 3D channel, though Bodenheimer said they would be announced before June.

Given all of the uncertainty, what would make ESPN3D a success?

"This is so new, we'll have to sit down and see if we're happy with the production. Can we do it in a cost-effective manner? What do the fans think? What do the rights holders think?" Bodenheimer said. "This isn't about making a profit or a loss in the first year. This is about learning about the future."

A future with every game broadcast in 3D?

"It's going to be some time before we're seeing every single game in 3D. That may never happen," said Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse. "Part of it is going to be, how cool does it look and how much different is the experience?"

In other words: Let's wait and see.

Read Andrea Adelson's blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/collegegridiron365 and e-mail her at aadelson@orlandosentinel.com. Subscribe to our College Sports e-mail newsletter at OrlandoSentinel.com/newsletters.